Foundations of a first impression

New Ferrum coach Dave Harper
went from linebackers to offensive coordinator to head
coach.
Photo by Ryan Tipps, D3sports.com

The man striding up in the black polo shirt looked out of place
on a campus that was overwhelmingly crimson and gold. A crowd of
tailgaters, veteran fans of Bridgewater’s football team, saw
the approach, but they were unlikely to turn away the man with a
big grin on his face.

With his hand outstretched, the man’s first words sounded
something like, “Thank you for all the support and energy you
bring to this level of football.”

That was September 2007, on the Eagles’ campus off of
Interstate 81. The crowd, members of the popular tailgate crew
known as Stone Station, shook hands with the visitor and, if just
for a few moments, celebrated with him the spirit of gameday.

You can’t undo a first impression, and Ferrum’s Dave
Harper nailed it that morning.

This fall, he’s been making another kind of first
impression in his role as the Panthers’ head coach. After
nearly two decades as an assistant, the landscape isn’t
exactly new. But, so far, it’s been rugged.

The team began the year on the losing end of lopsided games
against Emory & Henry and Hampden-Sydney. But Saturday, Ferrum
used its Homecoming matchup against Bridgewater to finally complete
what it set out to do and get Harper his first head coaching
win.

What’s it like for Harper to head coach at his alma
mater?

“Extremely cool. That’s for sure,” he
said.

Harper was a linebacker during his playing days, having been an
All-American and three-time team captain during the era when the
school transitioned from being a junior college to a four-year NCAA
program. Shortly after he graduated in the late 1980s, he became
one of only two Ferrum football players to have had his number
retired.

“When you talk about an honor, [I was] humbled,
embarrassed,” he said. “Was it a dream? Yeah, no
question. I didn’t expect it by any means.”

When he joined Ferrum’s coaching staff in 1991, he cut his
teeth as the linebackers coach before becoming the defensive
coordinator two years later. Then, in 1999, the team suddenly found
itself without an offensive coordinator in July. Then-head coach
Dave Davis was scrambling to find a replacement, but no candidates
emerged.

Harper offered to step in.

“We’ll do a one-year thing, and if things
don’t work out, I’ll move back to defense,”
Harper said he told Davis at the time. That one year turned into a
decade. And Harper came to fashion Ferrum’s run-based
offense.

As the head coach, Harper said one of his biggest goals is to
generate excitement on campus for the team. Make the players
recognizable. Make them accountable for one another and their
actions. Make them a part of the community. He said it’s
leadership by action.

“It starts by being a good person,” Harper said of
the mentality he’s trying to instill. “And the people
in the community see that a Ferrum football player will give back
to Ferrum College, will open a door for a lady, will help someone
carry a box into a room, just being the right type of person on
campus and being a leader on campus.”

The team expects to build on the more 300 hours of on-campus
community service it took part in last year.

But beyond that, having a big name on the coaching staff will
also help drum up campus support. This year, the Ferrum added
former Seahawks running back and Pro Bowl athlete Chris Warren as a
volunteer coach.

Harper and Warren played in the same high school district as
teenagers in Northern Virginia, and they had parents who knew each
other. Harper was already a standout athlete at Ferrum when Warren
arrived. Now, more than 20 years later, Harper helped bring Warren
back to campus after they ran into each other at an alumni
function.

“He’s really digging in. He’s learning.
He’s challenging the players,” Harper said of his new
coach. “Obviously, when you get an All-Pro type of player
who’s been coached by a number of great coaches, players want
to listen.”

Harper himself needed little more than the smell of the
sidelines to get him ready for this season’s role. For years,
he’s spent games looking down on the field from the pressbox.
But now, he’ll be in the thick of the action managing the
game.

“In the heat of battle, you’re on the sidelines,
with more emotions down there,” he said. “If
you’re up in the press box, you don’t see all the
emotions.”

Centennial scoring record broken

Susquehanna and Gettysburg combined for a whopping 111 points in
a contest that tied the Centennial Conference record for points in
a game -- which these same two teams set last year. Both teams also
topped 550 yards of offense. Nationally, we’ve seen several
instances of 2-point conversions tried and failed, but Susquehanna
made the gamble, and it paid off with the 56-55 victory in
overtime. Crusaders quarterback Rich Palazzi notched 430 passing
yards, finding Spenser Ercole and Mike Ritter for more than 100
each. The Bullets, on the other hand, benefitted the most from
rusher Ted Delia, who found the end zone three times while piling
on 244 yards

Rapid roundup

I made note last week of the total number of offensive yards in
a Washington and Lee game. This time, the Generals surged even
further (and got the win to boot). W&L gained a school-record
657 yards in a 49-42 shootout against Alma that totaled 1,132 yards
combined. Brett Murray spearheaded the Generals with 200 yards and
two scores.

Six players -- Sean Hopkins, Larry Jackson, Mike
Asiedu, Steven Koudossou, Joe
Bonato and Derrick Bender -- each made their first
career touchdowns in a Wesley uniform as the Wolverines pounded
Husson 72-0.

Ursinus’ Chris Curran got two of the team’s five
rushing touchdowns, but it was his last one with 18 seconds left on
the clock that broke a tie with McDaniel and gave the Bears a 35-28
win.

Emory and Henry strung together two late-game scores to rally
for a 34-27 win against Methodist. Defensive backs were kept on
their toes as the pass-heavy game saw 17 different wideouts make
catches.

Linebacker Patrick McDonough posted 10 solo tackles and six
assists, but Muhlenberg was intercepted three times, which helped
Johns Hopkins to a 27-17 win and continued control of the
Centennial.

Contact me

I would be happy to hear from anyone who has questions or
feedback regarding the Around the Mid-Atlantic column or Division
III football in general. Please write to me at
ryan.tipps@d3sports.com or follow me on Twitter @D3MidAtlantic. I invite
you to talk about players and performances on the message
board’s Around the
Mid-Atlantic thread. Additionally, if there is an idea
you’d like to see me write about, post it there or email
me.

Andrew Lovell is a writer based in Connecticut and a former online news editor for ESPN.com, as well as a former sports staff writer/editor for the New Britain Herald (Conn.). He has written feature stories for ESPN.com, currently contributes fantasy football content to RotoBaller.com, and has been a regular contributor to D3sports.com sites since 2007. Andrew has also written for a number of daily newspapers in New York, including the Poughkeepsie Journal, Ithaca Journal and Auburn Citizen. He graduated from Ithaca College in 2008 with B.A. in Sport Media and a minor in writing.